Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite writers, the depth she imbues into her characters is second-to-none. This is a characteristically wonderful read that I feel I will come back to again and again.

After reading Practical Magic, I found myself a little disappointed. It wasn't as great as I had expected and left me a little nervous about reading The Rules of Magic. This book did have one thing to rival Practical Magic. For the previous book, I had seen the movie and loved it for years. With this one, I had nothing to compare it to. So I went into this book unsure of how I was going to feel about it but excited all the same to learn more about the aunts.

I am so insanely happy that I gave The Rules of Magic a try. In my opinion it was sooo much better than Practical Magic. All the arcs of the story had climaxes and all of the calmer moments were balanced by moments of action and conflict. The characters were great in their different personalities and it was great to learn about each individual and how their lives were affected by love, magic, family, and the Owen Curse.

I definitely enjoyed learning more about Maria Owens and the family's history. I loved how Hoffman used the real Salem Witch Trials and the real people involved and twisted them into her story. The Scarlet Letter is one of my favorite classics and I really enjoyed the addition of Nathaniel Hawthorne as a distant relative of Jet, Franny, and Vincent.

This book was absolutely amazing. It's crazy to me how much content Hoffman can pour into one book. I honestly think the contents of each book could easily be spread out into a long series, but works in their current form.

Whether you have or haven't read Practical Magic, enjoyed or didn't enjoy it, I highly recommend you read The Rules of Magic! It's an amazing story all on it's own.

Rating: 4 Stars

This was an enjoyable story about magic and family. It is a bit of a Prequel to Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, where we meet the characters already grown up. It is a delightful story of children growing up not being allowed to use their magical talents and eventually coming into themselves.
A must read if you enjoyed Practical Magic!

A coming of age story about three teenage witches whose family is cursed never to be loved by others, The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman was an enjoyable weekend escape. She has a strong writing style: the characters are SO well developed and engaging. The book does meander a little in the first half but then picks up with more focus in the second half - I just couldn't put it down! Once again Hoffman's expression of emotion cannot be matched. Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to preview #TheRulesofMagic by @AHoffmanWriter

I enjoyed reconnecting with the Owens family in this sequel to Hoffman's "Practical Magic." Seeing Franny and Jet and their brother Vincent as young people added wonderful depth to that story. That earlier book has been on my Favorites list for years now, and I was definitely hoping to add this one to the list as well. But while I found this to be good read (Alice Hoffman cannot write a bad book), it didn't grab my attention the way I'd expected, and I found myself losing interest as I got farther into the story. Still, an entertaining book and I'd recommend it to other readers -- in fact, I already have.

As an avid Practical Magic fan, this book was phenomenal! Hoffman is a brilliant writer and a fantastic storyteller. This book adds depth and wonder to Practical Magic.

I truly wanted to love this novel and was so excited about gaining some backstory information after falling in love with Practical Magic. The Rules of Magic started out fine and I was immediately interested in what this prequel would reveal, however, I soon found myself struggling to get through it. I realize that compared to the majority of other reviews, my opinion is definitely in the minority, but something about this just didn't work for me.

I adored Practical Magic so going back to this world was a welcome treat and as always Alice Hoffman didn't disappoint.

Alice Hoffman does it again. I'll always enjoy her writing style and novels overall. Anyone who has enjoyed other titles by Hoffman will not be disappointed.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read/review this book! I will recommend this to family/friends.

The sense of magic and sadness in this book was the perfect setting for rainy day reading. The slight magic made me want to write down the remedies the children learned from their Aunt who was rejected by her witch hunting town. The numerous terrible things that happened set the setting for lessons learned and let love occur. I loved reading the adventures that spanned decades and history.

"The Rules of Magic", is such a wonderful world to visit.
Most people avoided the Owens family believing any entanglement with them would taint not only their present but their future as well.
It was said that some family members could place a single horse hair into a pan of water and turn it into a snake.
Yikes... that might scare me away from them too! Ha!

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman is another example of a storyteller working her craft in her prime. I love Alice Hoffman books and I came to this party late. The first Hoffman book I read was The Dovekeepers and to this day it is still one of my favorites.

The Owens family cannot love, it is a curse that fell upon them in 1620 when Maria Owens was charged with witchcraft. Her only true crime was loving the wrong man.

In the 1960s, New York City, with the world changing around them, Susanna Owens knows her children are different. Just as she knows that there is little she can do to protect them from their future. Headstrong Franny, with pale skin and red hair; her shy and beautiful sister Jet who can read the thoughts of others and their brother Vincent, whose beauty draws trouble to him.

Like any mother, Susanna has rules for her children. But hers are different. No red shoes. No walking in the moonlight. No wearing black. No cats. No books about magic. But above all else, never fall in love. Those rules have kept the children safe until one summer they visit their Aunt Isabelle in the small Massachusetts town where the curse of the Owens' family began. Where they learn who they are and of their past. Where they learn how to do magic.

Returning to New York and their parents, the children cannot help but break every rule. Most of all the one that shouldn't be broken. For the Owens, love comes at a heavy cost, especially to the one who loves them.

It is difficult to begin with this book. It is sweeping. It is sad. It is endearing. It will literally pull you into its world and have you caring so deeply for its characters that each loss will feel like a physical blow. It is also triumphant. It is the long ago sage, that love does conquer all. That it is worth all the cost and worth the risk involved for everyone.

Each of the kids, as they grow into adults will face the curse on their own. In their own ways. They will in turn be brave and be incredibly reckless with the feelings and lives of other people. This book is so much more about the human side of this family than it ever will be about the magic in them.

Frannie, the elder sister, lives her life caring for her siblings and feeling responsible for their welfare. Even though she finds love, she denies herself the emotion for fear of what it will do. Jet, unfortunately, finds love early on and soon finds out just how powerful the curse really is. Vincent finds solace in fleeing from the curse and his family. All of them love and all of them try very hard to keep that love from showing.

Tragic, yes, but still very powerful. There is a hope in this book that love is stronger than any curse and that the old ways of living and believing can change. There is a strong sense of redemption in this book that runs thick through it. Not only for the Owens family but for all those who love them and hate them. In the end, it is still about family. Witches or not.

Loved this story! Practical magic was such a great book and this took me back, learning about all the characters all over again.

I liked Practical Magic, but I loved Rules of Magic. Learning the aunts backstories was so fun and magical all over again. I connected more with their characters than I did Sally and Gillian, so I think that was why I enjoyed the story more than the first. But either way, it was wonderful to be back in the Owenses world, where magic is everywhere.

We jump right back into the magic that made Practical Magic such a wonderful story. I loved the book just as much as I thought I would since I practically devour everything Alice Hoffman writes. I am always transported with her writing and feel like I"m standing right next to the characters. I love magical realism and Hoffman is the master. Would definitely read again and recommend to all my friends who are looking for something magical to read.

In this novel, Alice Hoffman continues writing in the genre of magical realism. This book is a prequel to "Practical Magic" but stands alone. The story centers around 3 siblings and their challenges growing up knowing that they have special magical skills but not wanting to believe they are from a family of witches. In addition, they have to worry about the family curse related to being in love. The book is a fun read with interesting characters. I don't typically read books in this genre but if you're willing to let go of reality for a bit, it's entertaining and will hold your interest..

The Rules of Magic is the prequel to Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic series. The story takes place in the 1960s with all that is going on at that time. Susanna Owens is raising her three difficult children, Frances (Franny), Bridget (Jet) and Vincent, in Manhattan. She has rules that she hopes will keep them from practising Magic, such as: No walking in the moonlight; no red shoes; no wearing black; no cats; no crows; no candles; no books about magic. The hardest rule to enforce is to never fall in love. There is a curse on the family that if they fall in love, something will happen to the person they love.

One summer, Aunt Isabelle requests that the children come to the family home in Massachusetts and she begins to show them who they really are. During this summer, Vincent runs amok and has sex with many girls, but there is no love involved. Both Franny and Jet, fall in love and worry for years following what the curse may do. I love the quote in the book from Henry David Thoreau, "There is no remedy for love but to love more."

I really enjoyed meeting the Owens siblings. Each of them had issues to deal with, being ostracized at school and in the neighbourhood, trying to live under their mother's rules, and falling in love but being afraid of what might happen. Franny is so strong and takes her sibs under her wings when they are orphaned. Vincent is so troubled. He does not know where he fits in the world. Jet who loses the love of her life, has to make decisions that will affect the rest of her life. Think 'coming of age' story with magical realism. Now, I want to read the rest of this series.

4.5 stars

What to say about this book? Alice Hoffman has created not just a story, but an entire world, and I got lost in it. I usually am not big on multigenerational or lifelong stories, but Hoffman manages to span an entire lifetime without boring me or generalizing or skipping over things. I am also not huge into magical realism, but I loved the witches and their spells and powers.

The book follows the three Owen's children - Franny, Jet, and Vincent - as well as those closest to them - as they deal with the main themes of the book - fate and love. As usual, they are often intertwined. I enjoyed how the three siblings each dealt with their fate differently. I really enjoyed how Hoffman treated those themes over the book, and I was quite satisfied by the ending.

As an aside, I have never read/seen Practical Magic (I know, blasphemy) and I was able to enjoy this book without any prior knowledge of the characters.

I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've been looking out for more Alice Hoffman, ever since Faithful this time last year, which I loved.

I picked up The Rules of Magic, written in 2017, but a prequel to Practical Magic, which is her most famous book, and has been made into a movie. Even though this was written later, I thought I'd read it first.

The Owens family know they're different. Not just unique in an 'everyone is special' way. Really very different. Talented. Which makes them awkward. And odd. This may be easier for the adults, it's the children who have to navigate a world that expects them to be normal. Franny, who has skin as pale as milk, blood red hair and communicates with birds; Jet, who reads everyone's thoughts yet is shy and reserved and Vincent, who is highly musical, and so charismatic - even as a baby, someone tried to steal him, must figure out the "rules". Mom, Susanna helps by giving them some - we meet her in the first sentences.

"Once upon a time, before the whole world changed, it was possible to run away from home, disguise who you were , and fit into polite society. The children's mother had done exactly that."

So what are the Rules? No walking in the moonlight, no Ouija boards, no candles, no red shoes, no wearing black, no going shoeless, no amulets, no night-blooming flowers, no reading novels about magic, no cats, no crows and no venturing beyond Fourteenth Street. Of course, normal children don't obey any rules, so that's problematic, what with them trying to be ever so normal.

"Yet no matter how Susanna tried to enforce these rules, the children continued to thwart her."

And it's the family curse that gets them - don't ever fall in love.

This is a delightful charming tale of unusual proportions. The writing is beautiful, and I fell in love with all the children and their friends. Alice Hoffman says she writes for the same reason she reads - to escape into a world that is completely different. She allows us to do that here. I loved it.